January 2010
I'm having some issues with my T reg Focus, when starting the engine from cold (i.e. when off to work in the morning) my needles will do a full sweep as if they are calibrating. They only do it when starting from cold and they never drop out when driving. I have tested my battery first thing in the morning and had it read over 10 volts and tested it when running with a result of 13+ volts. I have been living with it for a while with no other (apparent) ill effects but when I went to start it this (Monday) morning after it had sat and not run for a weekend it:
1. Struggled to start (only took 3-4 seconds but normal fires first time)
2. Did the usual needle sweep but they stuttered half way up
3. Beeped as if I had the door open with the lights on (which I didn't)
4. Flashed some lights on the dash but too quickly to see which
Does anyone have any ideas? Read more
Hi,
Our second car is an old Nubira -- one thing that irritates me about this car is that the washer jets come on fractionally *after* the wipers start to move, and about a second or two after I've pulled the stalk toward me.
Is this a fault, or a feature? Read more
Pretty standard with most cars I've owned or driven. You could try putting a one way valve directly before the washer jets so that you don't have to prime the pipework each time you use them.
I have a 2000/X Primera 1.8 which has an issue with the brakes.
This happened a few months ago where you could hear a "clunk-click-clunk-click" coming from the NSF brake under light braking when driving slowly. The noise would disappear if the brake pedal was pushed harder.
Took it to the garage expecting it to be a loose brake pad rattling in the caliper. Garage said caliper was fine, but pads and disks were marginal. Replaced, noise clears.
Moving forward around 3-4000 miles, the noise has returned. Things I have noticed:
1) It only seems to be noisy when the car has been driven for a while, maybe after 20 miles or so.
2) In addition to the clonking, if you brake at speed there is a high-pitched squeal which oscillates with the speed of the wheel, as if there is metal-metal brushing against each other. Again if the brake is pushed harder the noise dissipates.
3) No deterioration in braking performance has been noted. However when braking at speed, sometimes there is a very slight pull to the right when the brake pedal is first pushed, which almost immediately disappears.
Any clues as to what is causing this? Was it my initial thought of a loose pad (which I still believe may be the case)? Read more
Interesting, was just looking for this post again thinking it had been abandoned...
This problem has moved on a little bit.
I took the car back into the garage. This noise only appears when the car has been driven for a number of miles. I told the garage this, they said that, for obvious reasons they couldn't take the car for a 20-mile hike to diagnose this issue so I should give it a run before bringing it in. This I duly did, but I made the mistake of taking the car in over the lunch break and they had no mechanics to go out and hear the noise.
They looked over the car and could find no issue with the brakes. They identified a perished drop-link on the driver's side (not entirely inconceivable that this could have been knocking and the noise was being transmitted) and this was replaced, along with two tyres and the brakes were cleaned up and descaled. They said they had taken it out on a run and could identify no fault.
Got the car back and, sure enough, no noise.
However, two days later and it's back, albeit to a much lesser degree than before. I am not entirely convinced about the condition of the brakes though as there does seem to be a slight warp on one of the discs (evident from a slight pulsing of the brake pedal at times) and the pull hasn't completely gone away.
I am going to get another guy I know to make a second opinion. I agree with you AE that I think it's a sticking caliper, possibly with a loose brake pad on the near side.
The car has done 255,000 miles, but has been regularly serviced during the four years/60,000 miles I've had it. No problems with the brakes or suspension components until this recent fault. As mentioned I believe the noise is coming from the near side. Brakes have been cleaned or replaced twice now and all components reseated in each case.
I have a 95 plate vw polo and for some bizarre reason the boot lock will not unlock (it does not have central locking) the key will go right into the lock but will not turn at all.
I have no idea what this can be, it feels as though maybe the 'teeth' inside the lock do not fit into place to allow the key to turn,I could be totally wrong im just guessing.
This has happened a couple of times but its always opened eventually but this time its just not budging at all
Any ideas? Is the lock completely broke and is it soomething a garage can fix? Read more
Still no joy after trying what you both suggested I even climbed into the boot via the back seats to sparay wd40 in that way.
I did try to see if i could unlock it from that side but im not sure what im supposed to be pushing to release the catch and also its quite awkward too get to as the boot inside lip rises up up where the boot lock catch is
Im clueless as to what this could be,maybe its time for a visit to the garage?
Any more ideas are greatfully appreciated
I am a bit confused and I hope you'll be able to provide your suggestions.
As I posted few weeks ago, I had hit my Mazda 323 and put it through insurance. They gave me two options, either to take the car back as it is and they'll give me money or they'll write it off and would give me a bit more extra money. So I went for first option. Ordered the required parts on ebay (luckily found a scrappy which had same colour car).
While the car was with insurance, my brother in law was selling his Vectra which I bought off of him because I knew Mazda 323 would be a write off.
Now I need to sell one and can't make up my mind which one to sell.
Both are V plate 2.0TD, 5 door hatchbacks. Mazda has done 136k and Vectra has done 105k. I've had Mazda for about 2 and half years now, never had any trouble. I changed the cam belt and being servicing it regularly so I know the car. Whereas, my brother in law bought Vectra from auction and had it for only few months.
Mazda seems to be faster and less noisy. Whereas Vectra seats are more comfy.
If you had the option which one would you keep and why? Read more
I had a Vectra that was nothing but unidentifiable trouble.
I'd stick with the devil you know, the Mazda. Moreover, it's probably not as straight as it once was, so not as easy to sell.
i want to upgrade the power on my mk3 mondeo tdci 130, manual. There are a few chips around, most of which alledgedly increase power by around 30bhp. Is there a specific one to go for? are they reliable and insurance approved? should i get it fitted or can i do it myself, and what effect does it have on fuel consumption? any help would be greatly appreciated, cheers Read more
Morning all,
The 'exhaust gas monitor' and 'service' lights came on as I was tootling along yesterday. Looking in my handbook tells me that I need to take the car to a Renault dealer asap. It's booked in tomorrow at my local independent Renault specialist but I thought I'd try to find out what may the matter before I take it in - forewarned is fore-armed and all that.
So, does anybody have any thoughts on what may be the problem? And, more importantly, how expensive it may be?
Just as an aside, I'd put an tenner's worth of supermarket fuel in about ten miles before the light came on - not sure if that's related but you do hear stories....
Thanks in advance. Read more
Thanks, shara. When the lights came on, there was absolutely no difference in the performance of the car - it drove perfectly normally. To be honest, I could do with it being a simple 'wiring glitch' as money is tighter than a duck's bottom underwater right now...
Cheers.
I have been driving for 45 years - in that time I have only broken down and recovered 3 times, fixed at the side of the road 3 times.
Major repairs - Gearbox 2 x both under warranty, Head gasket x 1, Clutch x 1, rear axle x1.
Batteries x 2 ( 1 under warranty), electrical faults x 3/4........................really the rest is brakes, tyres, and servicing.
Mileage would probably average 20-25,000 mls/year.
Makes - mostly Ford, Vauxhall, some BL, odd MB, last 14 years Honda, Mazda, Nissan.
Most unreliable car MB C Class, Most reliable cars Honda & Mazda
Read more
There was a fourth which I'd forgotten about, as it happened literally 100yds from my house and didn't really cause me a problem.
mk2 Cavalier SRi - fuel pump relay failure.
The driver's door on my Focus Ghia estate has been refusing to lock via the remote for a while now, although because there's a key hole it hasn't been too much of a problem.
However the rear door on the driver's side has now also started playing up, which is a bit more of a pain because it means reaching in from the front to press the knob to lock it.
Don't know if significant but the problem was initially intermittent.
Any ideas how much this is going to cost to fix at the local indie? Read more
There's a diagnostic mode for the central locking that might help - see here for
details :
Thanks mike.
I usually book hire cars directly through the rental company, or on occasion I have used Holiday Autos. I have now been quoted a good price from a company called Car Hire 3000.com Has anybody used this company and are they OK/trustworthy?
Another company that is new to me is auto-europe.co.uk. Again is this outfit safe to use?!
TIA Read more
Have used Auto-Europe in Portugal & Spain, without problems. Sometimes the pick up and drop off arrangements are a bit different from the norm, but as long as you know in advance, not a problem.
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Hi, I have now replaced the battery with a suitable silver calcium type and not had the problem happen since.
Cheers all